Monthly Archives: December 2011

December 30, 2011

I WANT to Like Exercise!

By Angie Bullock

I really, really do! But… I really, really don’t. :-(

I know what it’s like to feel that “good” soreness in the muscles. But generally speaking, I wouldn’t associate the word “good” with the pain of exercise. I just don’t like it. I’m being honest here. I don’t WANT to do it.

Yesterday afternoon, we went to the YMCA as new members. Went up to the cardio theater where they were playing the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Got on the elliptical. Couldn’t see any of the buttons because it was pitch black in the room (ha!) so I just started to move. Couldn’t tell how fast I was going (the elliptical at Fitness 19 had the same speeds on it as a treadmill, so it made sense to me – this one seemed to have strides per minute or something). After about 5 minutes, I got off and decided to get on the treadmill because I was clearly going too fast on the elliptical and wearing myself out…

Was on the treadmill for about 10 minutes when I noticed my shoes getting loose. Looked down to see that one of my shoelaces was coming undone and was immediately hit by a wave of nausea and dizziness. Whoa. Got off the treadmill and was welcomed with an immediate splitting headache. What?

So… that was it for me for the day. Welcome back to exercise, right? Sigh… :-(

Now, I am sure this is the evil one attacking me, knowing that the third leg to my table of health is physical health. But knowing that doesn’t make it suck any less, does it? ;-)

To compound everything, I’m also feeling really frustrated right now, diet-wise. I started out really well with the AdvoCare 24-day challenge. Made it through the first 10 days (the cleanse phase) and was down 7.6 lbs! Awesome. Then… I don’t know what happened! After like day 12, I’ve been gaining and gaining, every single day. As of this morning, I’m only down 4 lbs (today is Day 17 of 24)!! I’m eating the same foods, but something is just not working all of a sudden. I don’t get it at all… :-(

It’s all enough to make a girl want a pizza…

Ok, so, enough whining for the day! Let’s remember the great daily prayer from Made to Crave:

God, I recognize I am made for more than the vicious cycle of being ruled by food. I need to eat to live, not live to eat. So, I keep asking for Your wisdom to know what to eat and Your indwelling power to walk away from the things that are not beneficial to me. I also pray for the desire to fight through the beginning stages of an exercise routine and make it a want in a my life. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

Sorry for the major downer post. On the bright side, the Y does have free Zumba classes and if anything is going to re-motivate me to start exercising, it’s Zumba! Please pray that I actually start going to Zumba classes next week and love it as much as I remember. :-)

Happy New Year everyone!

4 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , | posted in AdvoCare, Dieting, Exercise, Prayer, Weight Loss

December 19, 2011

Slow and Steady Wins the Race…

By Angie Bullock

…but I’m impatient! Ha!

We’ve all heard that if you lose the weight really fast, you’ll regain it really fast. I’ve heard and I’ve experienced it. But that doesn’t mean I’m magically a patient person. ;-)

Yesterday marked the completion of the first 5 days of the AdvoCare 24-Day Challenge (1/2 way through the 10-day cleanse phase) and as of this morning, I’m down an even 4 lbs.

Now, that’s really good, right? I mean, 4 lbs in 5 days is certainly above average weight loss. However, it took intentional thinking on my part to come to the realization that it wasn’t disappointing to lose only 4 lbs in the first 5 days! How could an average loss of .8 lbs per day be disappointing? I mean, after all, if I could average that throughout the course of any diet, I’d lose the weight in no time!

Well, I realized the reason that I was initially reacting with disappointment was because of how fast I lost it on SlimGenics, especially in that first week (the very first week, the first week after a few days off, etc.) However, when I actually sat and gave conscious thought to it, I realized why that was and that immediately made me realize why this way is so much better for me!

The SG plan is extremely low sodium. I mean, unrealistic-for-normal-eating low sodium. So, in the first few days of ingesting basically the very minimum amount of salt my body needs to function, I shed ALL my water weight. Not just all my excess water weight, but like all of it. This, of course, also explains why I would immediately gain like 6 lbs if I went off-plan for a couple days. My body was so used to NO salt, that the minute I ate normal food, it would again retain that water weight.

Now, I certainly didn’t lose 100 lbs of water weight on the SG diet, so it’s not like the diet was horrible. I’m eternally grateful not only that I found the SG diet, but that God blessed us with the resources to actually do it. However, there was a good 5 extra lbs of loss that weren’t actually real, because the minute I ate something (even something healthy with salt in it, like MOST things), I would put that 5 extra water weight lbs back on. Not only was this EXTREMELY deflating to my confidence, but it means it wasn’t all real weight loss!

So, this 4 lbs is a REAL 4 lbs! And, if I can manage to find some patience and stick with a nice, steady pace, I might actually stand a chance of maintaining my weight loss and living a healthier lifestyle. Plus, I actually feel better than I’ve felt in a long time – I have energy! :-D

5 comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in AdvoCare, Dieting, Slimgenics, Weight Loss

December 17, 2011

Have You Seen My Cravings Anywhere?

By Angie Bullock

So yesterday we went to Costco and if you shop there, you know that a lot of their samples around this time of the year contain a lot of chocolate and other such confections. This year is certainly no exception.

We’re walking along, shopping for our healthy food, when Zach starts screaming, “Chocolate! Chocolate!” I turn, and sure enough, they are giving out samples of Lindor Truffles. We got a couple for Zach and apparently they were good, because he REALLY wanted more.

Mike and I didn’t have any. Now, would one small sample of some chocolate have killed us? No, absolutely not. Especially since the AdvoCare 24-Day Challenge says to shoot for being “80% on” (I really like that you don’t need to be perfect!). But, we figure the closer to 100% we can be, the better our results will be. Not to mention, it’s only 10 days for the cleanse phase, so we can at least be more restrictive for 10 measly days, right?

It wasn’t until later in the evening that I realized something VERY important about what happened at Costco. I didn’t CARE if I ate the chocolate! O_O! Day 3 and cravings are already gone?! SWEET!

Never have I had my cravings disappear so quickly after changing my eating habits. It HAS to be the AdvoCare products.

But this got me and Mike talking about cravings and how the evil one uses them and how they’re a part of his plan. I’ve never really thought about it, although it really is quite obvious. Think about any addiction. Does someone who’s never tasted a drop of alcohol crave it? Does someone who’s never used drugs go through withdrawals? Nope!

Last weekend I took my little guy to a cookie-decorating party and my friend who turned me on to AdvoCare ate a cookie and made a comment that it’s been a really long time since he’d had one, because she just doesn’t crave sweets anymore. I think I probably looked at her like she just sprouted a second head!

If you don’t drink alcohol, you won’t crave alcohol. If you don’t do drugs, you won’t crave drugs. If you don’t eat unhealthy food, you won’t crave unhealthy food.

If we kid ourselves for one second and believe that the evil one isn’t using food, just as much as drugs and alcohol (maybe even more, as the percentage of obese people is greater than those who are alcoholics and drug addicts) to trip us up and weaken our spiritual health and defenses, we’re in danger.

Yes, I believe fully that the AdvoCare products got me there faster, but I also know that in the past, anytime I’ve started watching what I eat, my cravings eventually do subside. It just usually takes a good week or two and there’s lots of feelings of deprivation in the meantime. I have to dig deep and find willpower. When I did SlimGenics, it took A LOT of prayer.

When I first started asking for help a couple weeks ago, I admitted that I had the tools to reverse the course I was on, but I flat out didn’t want to. I knew there was a time that I found healthy food appealing, but it seemed like a very distant memory. That’s because I was just eating terrible food!

So now, I’m back to remembering just how good pears are, how good vegetables are with hummus and I’m discovering new yummy foods and recipes! So long, cravings! :-)

4 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in AdvoCare, Dieting, Gluttony, Prayer, Weight Loss

December 15, 2011

That Outfit is SO Cute!

By Angie Bullock

…but I can’t pull it off. :-(

Ok, so this post isn’t likely to resonate much with my male followers, but I need to indulge in this post. Humor me, please, and let me talk frankly to the girls for a moment.

If you’ve ever struggled with your weight, you know exactly what I mean! You see a cute outfit, but you either know that it wouldn’t be flattering on you, so you don’t even bother, or even worse, you find yourself in the dressing room discovering just how NOT flattering it is. You feel horrible!

There was a time… a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (ok, had to include SOMETHING for the guys! ;-) ) when I bought and chose my clothes strictly because I liked them. I didn’t give any thought to what they might look like on me or whether they would be thinning, etc.

But then I started to choose things that hid hips or thighs better. Then it was things that covered my arms. Before I knew it, I was buying and choosing clothes based strictly on whether they would be thinning or would just hide me completely. Most clothes that I thought were cute were completely disregarded, because fashion designers design for thin people.

Now, I’m not a fashion junkie. Nowhere near it. In fact, I’m a total tomboy who cares far more about being comfortable than fashionable. And since I work from home, I can pretty much wear whatever I want most of the time. That being said, there ARE cute clothes and outfits out there that I would wear if I could. Mostly I just don’t want to think about anything other than if I like it! And if I like it, I want to wear it! Period!

So, I’m only 2 days into the AdvoCare 24-Day Challenge, but I at least feel like I’m again moving in the right direction. I’ve made it through the 1st two days without feeling deprived or hungry. In fact, I’ve actually enjoyed my food and found some surprisingly good new foods, some that I hadn’t even heard of until my friend who turned me onto AdvoCare took me grocery shopping at Sprout’s.

And of course, seeing immediate results on the scale and feeling more energized than normal keeps me motivated to keep going! Of course, I need to add in at least 30 minutes of exercise 5-6 times a week starting on Day 11. I might be less motivated then… ;-)

2 comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in AdvoCare, Dieting, Weight Loss

December 15, 2011

Turkey Taco Seasoning Recipe

By Angie Bullock

I thought it might be nice to start sharing some recipes that are healthy, but yet still yummy, as I know I appreciate finding such recipes on the web. :-)

One of our absolute favorites that has become somewhat of a staple for us when we are trying to eat healthy, but want to feel like we’re somewhat indulging, has been turkey tacos.

We use this recipe two ways. One, to make taco salad. Generally we will include lettuce, tomato, avocado and either reduced-fat cheddar or rice shreds cheddar cheese substitute. Second, to make tacos, in which case we’ll use low carb/high fiber tortillas and light sour cream.

This recipe is also extremely low in sodium.

  • 1 lb (16 oz) Ground Turkey (93/7)
  • 4 cloves fresh garlic
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp Morton’s Lite Salt
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • dash cayenne pepper for heat (optional)
  • 1 cup water

Brown ground turkey over medium heat. Add spices and water. Stir and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

Enjoy! :-)

1 comment   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Dieting, Recipes, Slimgenics, Weight Loss

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